The Untold Tale of the Rebel Son of Krypton
by Catheryne
Summary: Some stories that have never been told speak far more of the truth than those that became legends. This is the story of Lex and Chloe of today, and Lexar and Caelie before Krypton's fall.
1. Chapter 1

Part 1

_Without you, I am a ship without a sail, adrift in a cold, endless sea._

Long after Smallville, after Lex Luthor has emerged the head of LexCorp. As with all filthy rich businessmen, Lex had had his share of quirks and eccentricities. The most famous of these began when he was a mere high school student in one of his several boarding schools, when he started collection of mint baseball cards, cars, then planes, and then of women. His women proved to be his most popular pastime. Lex Luthor loved them tall, slender, and luxurious.

And then all of sudden, Lex seemed to have lost all interest in these. It was the same year that a Metropolis hero emerged. Once Superman's photos started gracing the front page of various newspapers, Lex Luthor turned his fascination on the Man of Steel. It was unnatural, to say the least. Like a man possessed, Lex Luthor researched on all that Superman did. What seemed to be fanaticism to others had turned out to be extreme curiosity that eventually, to the amazement of Lex Luthor himself, hatred.

It was then feeding to this unhealthy preoccupation of his that Lex Luthor turned away from his microscopes and to telescopes surveying the sky. On a cold lonely night, Lex's eyes glinted in excitement at the sight of a quick sparkle then a blaze across the sky. To his sharp estimation, an object from space, having been traveling so fast that it glowed with heat, entered the atmosphere. If his calculation of trajectory was correct, he knew where it landed. Lex Luthor then made his way to the cornfields of Smallville, Kansas.

In the same vicinity two decades ago, a meteor shower killed dozens of residents in the hamlet, and turned a sickly boy into... Lex was ever sure what exactly, but he had certainly changed. He was then on the lookout for that object that landed. From a distance he saw smoke floating from some stalks. He approached the object that quickly cooled, if the atmosphere around him was any indication. When he peered through the stalks, Lex grinned. It was a great find, he knew. On the ground, half buried in a crater it had itself created upon impact, was a silvery grey spherical object that had a fixed orbit. On the surface were creases and dents that told of a treacherous journey in space. Lex reached out for it carefully, in case it was stlll hot. After checking for himself that it was of acceptable temperature, he smoothed his hand over it. At his touch, foreign characters on the surface revealed themselves. They were familiar only because of his long preoccupation with all artifacts relating to Superman.

Lex read the characters on the metal. The last character was common, and he had seen it in many artifacts. It was the name of the planet, he knew--Krypton. The other two roughly translated to 'document' and 'partition.' With the insignia stamped below the name, Lex could only read them as RECORDS BUREAU KRYPTON. It contained government files, and thus worth a lot to Superman. Before he could open it, an image appeared beside the lock that asked for authorized access. He picked it up and took it with him to his car.

He placed his hand on top of the lock and with a click, the voice spoke in a dozen different tongues before Lex heard, "Assessing native dialect. Earth. English. Welcome Lex-ar. What do you wish to perform?"

"I want to know what this is," Lex said slowly, still caught unaware.

The darkness of his car was swallowed by sudden brightness when a small holographic image shot up. It was of a beautiful young woman wearing a long white dress. She was pale, with full pink lips and hair the color of fire. "This is a case of a thought-projection disc, Lex-ar. I'm hurt that you do not know. These are your thoughts immortalized."

He frowned at the words. He had never before heard of thought projection discs, and the hologram read it in his reaction.

"In Krypton, momentous occasions and events are recorded in these discs, to be kept in the Records Bureau for the sake of other generations. You have deemed it fit to record memories into these discs."

Lex accepted that it was a smart idea. If it were a possibility, then it would save so much. If this were a technology available on Earth, he was certain the oldest families and the brilliant minds would make good use of it. He placed the thought on a parking lot in his brain so that he could tweak it as a future LexCorp innovation." And you?"

The holographic woman smiled and bowed her head. He could see her cheeks flushed with delight. "I'm your representation of the memories you want preserved."

"I don't doubt that," Lex agreed. "I would surely remember you."

This time, the holographic woman looked up at him. As small as she was that she would be able to stand on his palm, the wealth of emotion in her eyes was so intense that he could read her so clearly. "Would that it were true."

"What do you mean?" Lex whispered.

"You were more brilliant then yourself," she answered. "Lex-ar, do you want me to play?"

"What will you play for me?"

The holographic woman sat on top of the sphere on which she stood, preparing herself for a long stationary period. "I will show you the story that you made certain you will see. I've started calling it, The Untold Tale of the Rebel Son of Krypton."

"Quite melodramatic, isn't it?"

"All of Krypton's children either perished with the planet or were saved not by their own will but because it was not made possible for them to stay on Krypton as it exploded."

"And this rebel son?" Lex prompted.

"You," clarified the hologram, "escaped."

He sighed and knew that this would take time and energy. Besides, if he were to find out how it all worked, he needed to be where no one else would see what she was doing. "Then since it seems like we need the entire night, you should start when we get home."

"As you wish. Lex-ar, call me Caelie Van-el."

At the name, Lex scratched his eyebrow. It would be just like him, if he was this Lex-ar to name the very representation of his precious memories after a woman from the House of El.

tbc


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2

_"Love builds bridges where there are none."  
-R.H. Delaney_

Kypton

The night was calm, deceptively enough, to Mag-el's thinking. The wind moved nary a bit, so far opposed to the usual tempests that brought down skyscrapers. One would not see a night as still as this in his home back in Argo City. Kryptonopolis, however, was unpredictable of weather. And so under the unexpected blanket of darkness and languor Mag-el worked through the golden pathways and slipped into the Hall of Worlds.

As he strode through the corridors, all around him the 3D displays of otherworlds lit up. He focused on his destination. Dwelling on memories woken by Lex-ar's creations would only serve to draw from him ill will that no member of the House of El should ever possess. Mag-el had vowed on the crypt of his lost bride that he would never take part on the feud that took her life. Blind to the images of life on other planets that were the fruit of Lex-ar and Jor-el's collaboration, Mag-el went towards the basement of the museum.

Using his passcode on the keypad, Mag-el unlocked the portal to the basement and lowered himself in the midst of intellectual chaos. He took in his surroundings. The whitewashed walls that closed around the large room were marred by endless numbers and formulas. There were sketches and representations of orbits and arcs. Theorems long buried for their complication were scrawled on the walls.

The most powerful men in Krypton were the scientists. The House of El, Mag-el's own clan, was a house of the top scientists in the planet. The calculations that turned into graffiti on the wall merely reminded Mag-el that he had walked into the sanctuary of a man so brilliant that even the House of El had feared him.

"Lex-ar," he said quietly, to draw the scientist out of under whatever he was working on. "You have not nourished yourself for so long."

Mag-el did not need to sit for a long time to understand the physics that Lex-ar was trying to break. He knew, firsthand, what the ultimate derivation should be. He had played with it, in his mind, but science and math or not, Mag-el knew when to give up his search. Lex-ar had not. Mag-el knew he never would.

"Space is nothing," Mag-el continued on the off chance that Lex-ar was listening to him. He walked over to a far wall and traced the drawing. Galaxies and galaxies away, he gathered. This was the expected result. He then turned to the other wall towards a more complicated formula. "But time, Lex-ar? Do you really believe you can defeat time?"

Only then did Mag-el notice the few sparks of light behind the curtain that hid the control room from him. Very slowly, he walkd towards it and recognized the sounds of working metal.

"Lex-ar, you cannot think of following the craft. It is far too--"

"Not stupid."

Mag-el turned around to take in the image of the man who had for always been his bride's true love. If Caelie could see him today, her heart would break. The rings around his eyes spoke clearly of restless nights. The wonderful golden hair that she had adored -- and he knew, for once or twice he had caught her running her fingers through it when she thought Mag-el did not see -- had all been shaven off. His clothes, Mag-el recognized, were the ones he had been wearing since judgment day.

Lex-ar walked around Mag-el to part the curtain, and revealed a pair of robots tasked to create a simple enclosed seat.

Mag-el was relieved, yet even more puzzled. "It is no spacecraft."

With a hint of triumph in his tired eyes, Lex-ar shared, "I am much more than a vehicle-maker."

Mag-el recognized the spite in his words, for had not the El family invented the trasport crafts that littered the major cities?

Lex-ar then indicated a final wall where the numbers and representations were so much neater. It occurred to Mag-el that Lex-ar had prepared everything.

"The prison shuttle will land in these coordinates," he stated. "Did you replace the crystals?"

Krypton, at the time, sent judged criminals away in prison shuttles with the bodies surrounded by cleansing crystals that washed away all criminal tendencies from the brain. Mag-el had rebelled on the judgment, but had been judged the victim in the entire charade.

"Of course," was his simple answer. He would not have allowed his Caelie wiped clean of all that had occured. Mag-el had replaced the cleansing crystals with those that he himself had made. Through his own fault was she in that dire predicament and he had vowed to give her back the innocence that she had lost since joining the House of El. The crystals he had placed in her prison shuttle then reversed the aging process, that she would not land in an otherworld so old and gray with nothing to look forward to.

Through strict calculation then, Lex-ar had devised the way to bring her back to him.

"This is the most precise time and coordinate to travel to," Lex-ar stated, pointing to his final answer. "My time-space machine is built. Mag-el, after all the grief and hatred, you have lone been my supporter. I shall grieve alone until the death of Krypton if you should tell me not to use it, but I will honor your wish. Then, Mag-el," Lex-ar continued, "will you allow me to travel to retrieve your wife for myself?"

The pause was long, and Lex-ar fought against the urge to use his invention whether or not the man who had become his friend would agree. Caelie was his, had been his since the beginning of time. He needed no permission from the man who was only an incidental in their life.

Mag-el turned to look at the machine, then took in the work that had taken place on the walls of the basement. Then, he looked up into the weary hope in Lex-ar's eyes. He was a far cry from the golden unreachable man who had always been first in his wife's heart. Bald, tired, broken, Lex-ar deserved one answer, "Pursue your love. You are nothing without her."

Upon hearing the words, Lex-ar's eyes drifted closed and Mag-el clearly saw the trembling lashes that indicated rough emotions overwhelming.

Lex-ar tremulously walked over to the machine and sat on the chair. He carefully punched in the time and coordinates then gripped tightly at the handles.

Smallville

Once again she remembered the breakup stories she had watched in the home movie theater that her father had splurged on with last year's Christmas bonus. She had been addicted to love stories from January to May. They had instilled in her a complete devotion to land a man, to be swept off her feet and to adore someone who truly loved her. She had actually believed that "I love you beyond my own life" existed. She was, however, completely mistaken. After months of pretending that she lived in a romantic movie, and that love was just around the corner, she had finally landed her guy.

And that was when she found out that "walking on clouds" was a great conspiracy. She just was not the heroine type. She could play second fiddle to the heroine, true. She was never going to be first billing in a romantic story.

She had fought it through. It was not as if Chloe had given up easily. Three days after she had finally captured her hero Clark Kent, Chloe had known it was not all it's cracked up to be. But she stayed and she tried to pretend that his bumbling around was cute and his sad efforts romantic. It was not to be. And so she decided to just get it over and done with. She had a fear of beaking up, of course. Movies made her scared of it. Some of those people who got dumped committed suicide or became villains. Clark was not going to be an attractive villain. If he tried to hang himself from the Fortress, it would collapse.

And so when Chloe finally opened the discussion during dinner, and Clark Kent had looked so relieved, she felt betrayed by those movies again. It wasn't hard. In fat, breaking up was so easy that she almost felt insulted. Clark seemed to only have been waiting for her to say goodbye.

"I love you, Chloe," he said.

"But not more than life itself," she muttered to herself.

"But I'm not in love with you."

"Same here," she grudgingly admitted. "I wish we were though."

"Yeah," Clark responded. "It would be so much easier. There would be no chasing, no angst, no pain. We'd just be together."

And that was when Chloe found out the missing ingredients. Their hookup was too easy. There were no complications. Great romances always go through so much pain. With Clark, it was a phone call, a date that morphed into a series of the same.

"So, I better go," Clark said, scuffing the toe of his shoe on the Sullivan's welcome mat.

"Guess you should," she answered.

Chloe sat on the porch steps as she watched Clark walk away. She was beginning to hate romance movies. Really. They brought nothing but false hopes.

She had started to believe that there was no man on earth for her.

Light flashed from behind her. Chloe whirled around and saw the flickering light through the window. She stood and peered through the window. A large contraption was inside her living room. Slowly and quietly she turned the knob on the door and slipped inside her house. She was caught in amazement when the contraption opened and out stumbled a tall haggard looking man. When he straightened, he met her eyes, and Chloe was captivated at the very likeness of Lex Luthor who seemed to be in pain.

She saw his face crumple in a grimace. He clutched at his gut and fell onto his knees. He glanced towards his right, and then at her.

For an endless moment their gazes met. The universe around them stopped.

"Caelie," she heard him murmur.

And then he gritted his teeth and cried out in pain. Chloe forgot that this was a mysterious and possibly dangerous stranger. She rushed over to him but could not reach him. He grasped the contraption and collapsed inside. And it vanished in a blinding flash of light.

Krypton

The next face that he saw was that of Mag-el. Lex-ar clutched the proffered hand, but was sapped of all his strength and was unable to pull himself up.

"Lex-ar, what's brought you to this?"

Lex-ar fell back down on the floor of his time machine. "I must return," he gasped out. "Caelie..."

Despite his concern, Mag-el's features brightened considerably. "My Caelie is alive and well?" he asked. Mag-el helped lift Lex-ar up and onto a chair.

"I must return," Lex-ar insisted. "A vile green rock sits within her home."

_"You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love."  
-Henry Drummond_


	3. Chapter 3

Part 3

_Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get, it's what you are expected to give -- which is everything._

In the beautiful city of Argo, a piercing squall of a newborn infant tore through the pristine calmness of an extravagant mansion. It was the home of one of the most prestigious members of the Supreme Council of Krypton, and that day was to be celebrated by the aging man because it was the fulfillment of his long-awaited dream. On that stormy night in the home he had built from his grandest fantasies was born the child he had wished for for so long.

Gab-rel stepped into the large master's bedroom and watched the physician lift a tiny infant out of the covers of the canopy bed and present it over to him. He took the child in his arms and raised it high.

"A daughter, Gab-rel," the physician informed him.

Beaming with pride, Gab-rel pronounced, "Caelie Gab-rel. She will be the most fortunate girl in all of Krypton." He took the child himself to the washing area and bathed the blood off the baby. Then, carrying the child still he proceeded to the canopy bed. At his approach, the curtains were parted to reveal his wife, propped up on eight white pillows. "Thank you," he said, his voice trembling with emotion. Caelie, Gab-rel knew, would be his one and only child. "I am grateful."

"Take her away," was the only response.

In her father's arms, the newborn Caelie whimpered, as if she understood the meaning of such cold voice from her mother. In very few seconds Caelie started to softly cry.

"You will need to feed her."

"I have already given you what you wanted, Gab-rel. You will not have me feeding your child."

His eyes fell on the front of her gown, where the cloth had darkened on spots with the overflow of the milk she would not share. "Would you then rather waste it than give it to Caelie?"

The woman on the bed looked at the restless child, then at her husband. "You know I had not wanted this. I had lost no chance to say it. You cannot claim I had led you to believe otherwise. I do not wish to see the child."

Gab-rel held on to the baby firmly, because Caelie's cries had increased in intensity. For years he had fought to get through to his wife, but it became so evident that she would not change. In the face of a child that desperately needed to eat, his wife could so deny her breast for hatred of her husband. There would be no reaching his wife. His luck would be better with those outside his home.

Gab-rel had taken the child to his study, where he had had a crib installed. He had no trust in his wife, nor in any other member of his household, when it came to Caelie. She had finally arrived, after years of dreaming of his own child. Caelie's care would never depend on the help. Gab-rel would leave his seat in Krypton's Supreme Council so he could take care of Caelie until she grew.

"You have a mother who does not want you," he spoke softly to the little girl, whose first hour on Krypton was so full of sadness. "But rest assured, my darling girl, that your father has enough love for you that you will never notice the lack of a mother."

A rapid knock on his door made him start. For a second his heart had stopped in the false hope that his wife had changed his mind. Only when Lion-ar, a strong supporter and a famed entrepreneur in Argo City, stepped inside, did Gab-rel bade him entrance. Reluctantly, Gab-rel straightened up from the crib.

"Old friend," Lion-ar greeted. "She has come."

The reminder of that desire to have a child that he had long expressed to his friend brought a smile to Gab-rel worried face. It was then that he noticed the little boy tugging at his father's tailcoats. "Yes, Lion-ar. Caelie has come to me. A blessing far beyond the worth of Krypton." Gab-rel nodded at the little boy.

The gesture of welcome seemed to be enough for the boy. He stepped out of his father's shadow and wandered into the room. He moved past the two men and over to the crib.

"Servants tongues move fast, Gab-rel. Word of your dilemma has reached the club."

"I swear she will be fine," Gab-rel vowed. "I had sent for help, for a wet nurse."

Lion-ar drew from his jacket a vial and handed it to Gab-rel. "A gift from Zor-el."

Gab-rel reached for the vial at once. He knew its worth, without being told. Zor-el was one of the most respected scientists in Argo City, a descendant of the House of El, whose contributions created Kryptonian civilization. As a member of Krypton's Supreme Council, Gab-rel had depended much on the help of the planet's scientists. He had not known that one of them would do as much as save his daughter's life.

"All that your child will need is in that vial. Pour it into water and you shall have enough to sustain Caelie until your nurse arrives."

Immediately, Gab-rel moved to action. He had called for warm water and turned to the crib. He stopped at the sight of Lion-ar's young son who had miraculously, at age five, dislodged one side of the crib and managed to haul himself up onto it. There he was, sitting beside Caelie, who had fallen asleep crying hunger.

"Lex-ar!" Lion-ar exclaimed, quickly stalking forward to claim his son.

Gab-rel held up his hand to stay Lion-ar. "Let him," advised Gab-rel. "He is doing nothing wrong."

As a servant arrived to pour the contents of the vial into warm water, the two fathers watched their children in the crib. Caelie was still asleep, and Lex-ar merely stared at her. As Gab-rel approached to try to get his daughter to take some of the milk, Lex-ar looked up at him. "Father," he said to Lion-ar, "it is boring to watch Mr. El's daughter. She's lazy."

Lion-ar winced at the words. Gab-rel merely smiled and waited for the boy to climb down. Despite his claim to boredom though, Lex-ar remained in the crib watching the baby. Caelie's eyes then opened and met Lex-ar's. Gab-rel gently prodded his daughter's lips with the milk bottle's nipple. When she latched on to it, Lex-ar took the bottle in both of his hands and held it up, leaving Gab-rel to let it go.

It took the hungry child a long time to finish half the bottle before she drifted off to sleep again. Lex-ar put the bottle down and yawned himself. Then, he laid down beside the child and closed his eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

Part 4

_Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; loving someone deeply gives you courage._

_-Lao-Tzu _

Caelie placed her dolls in a row. She stepped back and surveyed the neat line, then stopped for a moment. One of the buttons on her favorite doll's dress was missing. She was certain that it had been there before. She had said goodnight to her little doll last night before she fell asleep, and the row of buttons was complete. That had been before her mother went inside to make sure that Caelie had gone to bed.

Maybe her mother plucked the button off. She bit her lower lip, because Caelie knew that there was nothing she could do. Her father always told her that Caelie deserved the best. Caelie had even heard her parents arguing about her. She was five but she could feel it. It was so obvious. Her mommy didn't love her as much as her daddy did. But no one really loved her as much as her daddy did.

He was one of a kind.

But Caelie was still upset about her doll's missing button.

The door to the bedroom swung open and in stepped her friend Lex-ar. She momentarily forgot about the button when she saw how neatly pressed and slicked he was.

Lex-ar frowned at her stunned expression. "I'm going to a big person's dinner," he announced. "I look good." He fidgeted with his coat and shook his legs to show her how well his slacks fell around his ankles. It was only then that he noticed her expression. "What's wrong Caelie?"

She held up a doll towards him, and he noticed that it was the one doll that his father had bought for her. Lion-ar had asked Lex-ar to give it to Caelie on her birthday. He assessed the toy carefully, and saw the problem. Lex-ar's eyes dropped to the floor, and he started looking around, under the bed, crawling on all fours in his expensive clothes.

"It's gotta be here somewhere, Caelie."

Her pout did not leave, but she reached down idly to shuffle Lex-ar's hair as he passed by her in his search. "So soft," she murmured. "Like my doll's."

As he reached out with his arms under the bed, Lex-ar grinned. Since she was a baby Caelie had had a fascination with his golden hair. When he straightened, he had the button between his fingers. "We'll ask someone to fix her up for you."

Caelie beamed with pleasure, and graciously handed the doll to Lex-ar. "Thank you."

"Anything," he replied. Then, as was his wont, Lex-ar reached inside his jacket and drew out a thin case. Caelie knew what he would show her. She had seen it countless times before. It did not mean she did not wish to see it again, or hear what he would say. Lex-ar pushed the button on the side and a photo lit up, of a young golden-haired boy carrying a flame-haired infant in his arms. "I've taken care of you since you were very little. You should know by now I would take care of anything you need."

She took it in her hands and did not mention that she saw how someone else's hands were holding her steady even as the photo only captured the two of them.

"You should fix your hair," he told her. "Didn't you comb it?"

Her eyes widened. Even at age seven, Caelie's perspective on life was so different from others in the Argo City schools. "No time," she said breathlessly. Then she narrated a story from her prep school. "My teacher has been missing for two days." She held up her fingers. "No one can be sick for two days, Lex-ar." And she was correct. With Krypton's advanced medical technology, with which any illness can be removed with the beam of laser, no one was out of commission for more than an hour. "The Council has done something."

Conspiracy and mystery were her favorite themes, and Lex-ar was used to it. He walked over to the dresser and opened the drawer. From it he took a brush and waved Caelie over to sit on the chair. "Tell me about your theory," he said, as he started running the brush through her hair.

As Caelie launched into her thoughts on the missing teacher, Lex-ar worked quietly. She spoke of advances in methodology that the Council did not sanction. Caelie defended her teacher's right to change the content of what the schools autofed Kryptonian children. "What do you think?"

"Your hair is like the red sun," was his reply.

She frowned. "And what about my teacher?"

Lex-ar put the brush on the dresser again. "Caelie, you have found nothing to support your claim. Evidence, Caelie, is the most important thing in any investigation. Without it, your theories would only be the claims of a girl."

"Then help me find it!" she urged.

He had no intention of doing so, but Lex-ar did not want her snooping around either. If she was right, as she so often was, then it would be better not to be associated with the teacher. Krypton was so successful, according to his father, because of the Council. If the Council decided on something, then it must be followed. It would be the only way to keep Kryptonian civilization so advanced.

"Ride to school with me tomorrow," he offered.

Her response was automatic and eager. Caelie clapped. "Are we going to fly?" Lex-ar had the best solo rocket tube in their school. It strapped to his back and enabled him to fly the way people traveled in Kryptonopolis. The House of Ar, being so wealthy and influential, was able to have units imported from the capital city into Argo before anyone else.

"Strapped to me you'll get to fly."

Lex stopped the hologram. The figure, which he now vaguely recognized as truly looking somewhat like the child he had been watching, looked at him in wonder.

"You're convinced that I'm Lex-ar?" The hologram did not answer, because it was rhetorical. "Caelie, what happened to us then?"

"I am only a representation you had seen fit to preserve," she corrected him. "I am not Caelie. But if you really want, then I can tell you how you and Caelie ended based on all that you had saved." She closed her eyes needlessly. As a program, she needed no human action to retrieve data. To indicate the search completed, the hologram looked at Lex again. "Lex-ar, you preserved nothing where you should have saved the end."

"There is no end?" he clarified.

"None that you had provided for yourself." The image flickered a bit, then returned. "Lex-ar, do you want answers?"

"Isn't that what I was asking for?"

She shook her head. "Then allow the story to unfold as you had intended it to be seen."

"I am not as patient in this world as I was when I was Lex-ar then." Lex sat back in realization. He had saved nothing in the end, and he had made certain he would receive this record. If he knew himself, and by some absurd chance the hologram was not a fake, then there was something else. "It did not end," he whispered. "It had not ended yet."

"Do you want me to continue?"

"You will show me instead not the end, but what I had first believed to be the end." He hit play and saw the golden haired Lex-ar, now a full grown man, standing before the prison shuttle in which she was trapped, suspended love meant to be exiled into space. He reached and placed his hand on the cold glass.

The Dome was the place where exiles began. It stored the prison shuttles that had been used by the Council for the years before the Phantom Zone. Now here he stood, once a child well cared for by Krypton's politics, being broken and torn by the same good laws of the land he had always abided by.

"Here we are at the end, my love. Is it a happy ending?" he thought he heard her voice in his head.

As the cold of the glass that parted him from her seeped into his skin, he said aloud, "We are nowhere close to the end, Caelie." He vowed, "I will search for you even in the farthest reaches of the universe. I will not rest."

The loud noises that accompanied the arrival of the Kryptonian Security Force did not cause him to stumble away and hide the fact that he was illegally inside the Dome. Lex-ar stood there in front of the prison shuttle even as the authorities clasped him by the arms and started pulling him away. Mag-el stood on the far side, the only one who had the right to see the ejection. As her husband, Mag-el would stay inside the Dome and push the button to release her into the sky.

"No, no!" he cried out, struggling against the men who were pulling him away. "Mag-el," he pleaded, "do not allow them to do this."

Caelie's husband and Lex-ar's friend looked down in despair. He then met Lex-ar's eyes and claimed, "I cannot do anything else, Lex-ar. Just be grateful you have escaped your punishment."

His eyes wide with disbelief and outrage, Lex-ar was pushed out of the Dome's doors. The heavy latch was placed, and Lex-ar pounded on the doors. He screamed against the walls when he heard the Dome's roof part. "Stop them, Mag-el!" he yelled. "Caelie!" His voice was raw then. His limbs melted at the sound of the rocket firing.

The crime and judgment was played for Kryptonopolis. "Judged guilty of adultery and exiled into boundless space."

Lex-ar fell to his knees, clutching his gut as he stared up into the red sky. When he saw the capsule shoot out into the air, he collapsed onto his side. For endless hours, it seemed, he lay on the ground unmoving. When it seemed that ages had passed, Lex-ar picked himself up unsteadily, leaning against the Dome and pushing himself towards the Hall of Worlds.

"You have such beautiful hair, Lex-ar. It is the color of the molten lava of the Gold Volcano, came so deep and hot from the center of Krypton," Caelie's voice played in his head.

He had laughed then, he remembered. Lex-ar stumbled towards the basement of the Hall. Once there, he took a knife and stood in front of the mirror. Then chunk by chunk, he started shaving off his hair. He closed his eyes as he shed remnants of the man he had used to be.

"It's your twentieth birthday, Lex-ar," she had whispered into his ear. He had not seen her for so long. He had left her in Argo City when he joined the famed scientist Jor-el in Kryptonopolis as his apprentice in the Hall of Worlds. On his birthday, because of his great desire to catch up with his master, he had stayed in Kryptonopolis and worked. To his surprise, she had traveled from Argo City to Kryptonopolis to give him a gift on his birthday. He had opened the package to receive from her a dreamweaver.

She had placed her palm over the pad of the gift, and a miniature older image of herself appeared, with a baby in her arms. "This is my dream. His name is Col-ar, a golden son who will be all that you are."

Lex-ar had taken the dreamweaver in his hands and placed his palm over the pad. A miniature image of Caelie appeared, swathed in white and standing on a pedestal carved from a single-multifaceted jewel.

"It's the Jewel of Truth and Honor from the Palace of Marriage," she had whispered.

"This," he had replied, taking her hand in his, "is mine."

Lex-ar opened his eyes and stared at himself in the mirror. She would no longer be able to run her fingers through his hair, the way she had loved so much. He tossed the knife onto the sink and picked up a black marker. Then he went to one whitewashed wall and hastily scrawled his calculations.

"I am nothing without you," he whispered.

Numbers upon numbers, formulas upon diagrams. There was always an answer.

_In the arithmetic of love, one plus one equals everything, and two minus one equals nothing. _

_ Mignon McLaughlin _


	5. Chapter 5

Part 5

_Love is that splendid triggering of human vitality … the supreme activity which nature affords anyone for going out of himself toward someone else._

_ José Ortega y Gasset_

High School

Like every day since Caelie attended preparation school, she was supposed to meet with Lex-ar right in front of the main gate. She had been feeling warm and nauseated since the day before, but she had an assessment today in Physics. Thus she could not afford to miss a day of school. She had wanted to go home immediately, and sent Lex-ar a quick message that they needed to leave at once. The school day was only half over but the teacher allowed her to leave early. And so, once the administrator learned that Caelie needed to come home, he had called for Lex-ar. Anyone in school knew that Lex-ar could be trusted to take her back to her home. Caelie hoped that when she got to the main gate, Lex-ar would be ready to leave.

Caelie arrived at the main gate and could not find Lex-ar. She sighed and sat down on the steps of the school and waited. Her frustration about the long test heightened when she saw Lex-ar finally emerge from the school with the popular girl Leera Leroy gazing up at him adoringly. Caelie's eyes narrowed at the sight. She waved at Lex-ar and motioned that she needed to leave. To that, Lex-ar waved back and held up his hand in a signal for patience.

She was burning, and she needed to go to bed. She missed her sheets and her pillows. All that Calie could think about was that Lex-ar could drop her off at her home and she could rest.

Caelie heaved a sign of impatience. She stood up. For a moment, the school whirled around her, and she was pretty sure that the planet moved under her feet. Caelie looked at Lex-ar and Leera from the distance and they became gray figures against the red haze. She really needed to go home. Caelie started towards them and stopped beside Lex-ar. She tapped him on the shoulder.

"Caelie, we'll leave in two minutes," Lex-ar told her. Caelie could see the mirth in his eyes, and recognized that he enjoyed the company of Leera.

Caelie bit her lip. Lex-ar did not have the responsibility of taking her home, true. In fact, it might have been easier to just send a message to her father and Gab-rel would certainly have sent someone to take her home at once. She had thought it would be a comfort to have Lex-ar take her home though. "Please, Lex-ar," she whispered.

"Caelie, give me just a minute," he insisted.

Caelie's gaze drifted to Leera, who had turned her brown eyes on her with a challenge. "Go sit on the steps, Caelie. He will be right with you."

She had been wanting to throw up for some time. Caelie wondered if Lex-ar would think it so bad of her if she threw up on Leera's pretty shoes.

"Caelie, that's fine right? We're just having some more grown-up conversation," Lex-ar told her.

If the sickness she felt did not break her, the words certainly did. Caelie suddenly felt as if blisters were growing on her skin. She was embarrassed by the words, and at the same time, hurt. "Don't worry, Lex-ar. I won't ever ride with you again!" She stomped away from the two and towards the school.

Lex-ar looked after Caelie in wonder. He had not expected her to be so short-tempered. Gab-rel's only child had always been sweet, if a little hard to handle. He had been with her since she was hours old. He knew her temperament, and it was the first time he had witnessed her react in this way.

He heard a single rocket touch down a few feet from him. Lex-ar turned and saw his close friend and neighbor, from the same block that he and Caelie lived, unstrapping his rocket from his chest. Mag-el grinned and walked over to him.

"What happened to Caelie?" Mag-el inquired as he looked after the girl who was leaving in a huff.

"Gone insane," Lex-ar shared. He turned away from Leera and scratched his head.

"She's mad at Lex-ar," Leera called out.

"I was going to take her home right after my conversation with Leera," Lex-ar continued.

If there was anyone else who would understand Caelie, it would be Mag-el. He had known Caelie since just after Lex-ar and Lion-ar left Gab-rel's home. It was even Mag-el's father who saved Caelie's life with the sustenance that Gab-rel needed to give Caelie as an infant. Lex-ar, Caelie and Mag-el were childhood friends, and thus became closer than siblings.

Mag-el laughed. He assessed the way that Caelie stood in front of the school. Her chin was raised in a rebellious tilt. "You are a brilliant student only in books, my friend!" Mag-el exclaimed.

Lex-ar said goodbye to Leera and walked with Mag-el towards their friend. "Come on, little girl. I'll take you home!" he called out.

To his utter horror, Caelie's lower lip trembled and tears filled her eyes. She turned and walked out into the quad. She sat down beside some of her friends from the same level that she belonged to.

Lex-ar shook his head. "Did she just ignore me?" He then noticed Mag-el staring at him oddly. "What?"

"This is ignorance at its finest. I will capture this in my memory so that I can save it in a projection disc for the future," responded Mag-el. "I'll meet you later."

Caelie, meanwhile, brooded with her friends. Voices were asking her, "Why aren't you with Lex-ar? Are you fighting?" She blocked everyone's voices. In truth, she barely understood most of them. She could hear throbbing in her ears. Barely above a whisper, she heard someone say, "Caelie, look at your skin!" When she did, she registered the scarlet marks that have started to cover the expanse of it.

Someone from her table screamed. Caelie started to stand. She missed the support of the table and fell sideways. Next she knew, she hit the ground and her cheek was abraded with the rough surface.

"Lex-ar!" someone called out.

Lex-ar was at that moment on his way into the school. When he heard the voice, he turned around. His eyes landed on the chaos surrounding the table where he had last seen Caelie. The next sight that he saw was of Mag-el dropping his bag on the ground and bursting into a run towards the crowd. Lex-ar felt several eyes on him, but he could not move. Mag-el vanished into the crowd, and Lex-ar's breath caught in his throat when his friend emerged with Caelie's still figure in his arms.

"Cael," Lex-ar breathed. He moved quickly towards Mag-el. However, Mag-el did not stop. As he passed by Lex-ar, Mag-el said curtly, "I'm taking her to the school nurse."

"She hasn't been feeling well since the morning—" Lex-ar heard from one of the people who were with Caelie at the table.

"She was going to go home. She should have. Don't know why she decided to stay—"

"The administrator thought she was on her way home—"

"—stubborn girl—"

Lex-ar was frozen on the spot. It seemed minutes later that he shook himself out of the trance. Lex-ar ran to the nurse's office. He stopped just outside where Mag-el was pacing.

"It's Scarlet Jungle fever," Mag-el explained. "The nurse is seeing to her. Did you know that she went to the Scarlet Jungle while school was out this weekend?"

"No," Lex-ar answered immediately. "If I'd known I would have locked her in her room." Even as he said it, he felt extremely guilty. In truth, he would not have known if she planned to do it anyway. Leera had sent him a message that she needed help with installing a telescope she was given, and he had ridden to her home to help out.

Mag-el nodded. "I have to speak with my father. The Council is taking too much time from a retired man. With the Science Council always requesting for Gab-rel's assistance, Gab-rel has not had much chance to supervise his daughter these days." Mag-el glanced at the great clock. "What would she even do in the Scarlet Jungle?"

Lex-ar knew, but he hesitated to tell Mag-el. Knowing that she had been wondering about the Scarlet Jungle for some time, and researching the fauna that hid under the red leaves, should have screamed to him that she would try something like this one time or another.

When the door opened, Lex-ar looked up. The nurse looked at the two of them and smiled. Actually, at Mag-el, she beamed.

"Young men, you will be pleased to know that your friend will be fine. I have completely removed the virus from her system. Thanks to young Mag-el, who was so quick and strong, she will be fully recovered soon."

Lex-ar breathed a sigh a relief. "Can I take her home now?"

"Not yet. And Mag-el, I have informed the administrator that you may not attend your classes yet. I need to isolate you and Caelie in the room for four hours. We cannot allow the other students to come into contact with the two of you to prevent the virus from spreading. I hope that will be okay?"

Lex-ar watched Mag-el's reaction. His friend hated being stuck anywhere. It was the reason that the House of El has only a lunar cycle ago perfected the best rocket for Mag-el.

"Four hours with Caelie Gab-rel?" Mag-el grinned. "Doesn't sound bad at all." He clapped Lex-ar on the back. "Have fun in class. And don't wait for us. I'll make sure to take her home."

Lex-ar waited until Mag-el stepped in. The nurse smiled at him. "Going to your class then?"

"In a few minutes," he told the nurse.

The nurse closed the door after her. Lex-ar settled on the floor across the nurse's door and leaned his back against the cold wall. He had been remiss in his responsibility, and he was ashamed of himself. He had assigned himself to be her protector at the very second that his father hauled him to the House of Rel fourteen years ago. When Lion-ar saved her life by bringing the El invention, Lex-ar had convinced himself that he would always be there when she needed him.

It would take a long time to make this up to Caelie. He would make sure that she would not go back to dangerous places just to chase down her research stories. If she insisted, then he would be there breathing down her neck the entire time.

The El family may have invented her sustenance as a baby; the El family may have invented the laser instrument that the nurse used to get rid of the Scarlet Jungle virus; a son of the El family may have carried her to the nurse's clinic.

Lex-ar was going to make sure that he did everything else for her after that. He planned and plotted to become first place in Caelie's eyes. He knew her first.

When Caelie and Mag-el finally emerged from the nurse's office, laughing at the stories that occupied the past four hours, they saw Lex-ar slumped on the floor across from them, sleeping.

"I suppose he's waiting to take you home," Mag-el said lightly.

Caelie bit her lip, and a hint of a smile touched her face. She squeezed Mag-el's arm and walked over to kneel beside her best friend. "Lex-ar," she whispered as she shook his arm. "Lex-ar."

Lex-ar awoke to the soft voice. He opened his eyes and saw her gazing earnestly at him. He pushed her flaming red hair back and tucked it behind her ear. "You okay now, Cael?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she assured him. "But I really want to go home."

He nodded and pulled himself up. "I'll take you." Lex-ar wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry, Caelie."

She leaned her head against his shoulder and turned to Mag-el. "See you tomorrow, Mag."

Mag-el waved at the two of them. When he met Lex-ar's eyes, he nodded once. "Fly safe.  
"

_The moment you have in your heart this extraordinary thing called love and feel the depth, the delight, the ecstasy of it, you will discover that for you the world is transformed._

_-J. Krishnamurti _


	6. Chapter 6

Part 6

_"Falling in love is not an extension of one's limits or boundaries; it is a partial and temporary collapse of them."_

_ M Scott Peck_

Upon Lex-ar's graduation from Argo's Learning Halls

She had run so far away the moment he heard. Gab-rel was called back from the capital of Kryptonopolis by his anxious house caretakers. Once the servants had knocked on the door and found no voice beckoning entrance, they had suspected the worst. Coupled by the announcement from dinnertime yesternight, right before Gab-rel joined the Council who had requested for his advice, the most veteran of the Rel household's servants knew to expect the action that Caelie had taken.

It was Bera Kop-er, who had taken care of Caelie as her wet nurse ever since Bera arrived, who had suggested the fearsome truth. Caelie Gab-rel had run away in the middle of the night to protest the decision of the Council. Yesterday's eve, Gab-rel had announced to a gathering that he came as the bearer of magnificent news. As adviser of the Council, he was to announce that the next director of the Hall of Worlds had been chosen. It was then that Zor-el had risen, being the current director of the famed museum. The two respected scientists spoke of a long line of candidates, and the honor of having the next director come from Argo City, the way that Zor-el was also himself a son of Argo.

Bera witnessed at that very moment sheer panic in the eyes of her charge. Caelie was intelligent enough to connect the clues before the scientists revealed it. Caelie had frantically searched Lex-ar's face, but the young man had only steadily waited with bated breath for the announcement.

If the heart were reflected in one's eyes, Bera would swear that the sudden flood of liquid in Caelie's eyes was blood. So shattered was her gaze that Bera was afraid that her charge would just topple over and die. For one so infinitely brilliant, Caelie was not able to prepare herself when this was inevitable. After all, Caelie had spent countless nights with Lex-ar in Argo City's only observatory. She had been with Lex-ar when he was chosen to test the monumentally expensive telescope, and plot out space from the top of Argo City's highest hill. Surely, Bera thought, Caelie must have suspected.

"It is a young man whom we can all be proud of—Lex-ar," Gab-rel had announced, shattering his daughter's dreams.

She had not stood and applauded with the crowd. Blank eyes followed the rest as the people in the gathering approached Lex-ar and clapped the young man's back.

"Such high post for one so young," people around them had exclaimed.

As everyone rejoiced, Caelie had slid away and rounded out of the doors. Bera had been about to come up to her charge to enjoin her to her room, because the night outside was cold. As she had exited with Caelie's shawl in her arms, Bera had noticed that Lex-ar had excused himself from the crowd and was following in Caelie's direction.

Bera had no answer to the question that occurred to her then. Just at that exact moment that Lex-ar had stepped off the house and onto the yellow glass, Caelie had turned. Without seeing him, she had seemed to recognize his presence.

"Are you going to stay out here alone? Will you not toast to my great achievement?"

And what an achievement it had been. "You think I will celebrate my loss?" Caelie had asked. Lex-ar had walked closer to Caelie, and she had turned her back on him and gazed up at the stars. "Go on," she bid him. "You have your dream. The Hall of Worlds is yours the way you've always dreamed. Map those worlds you so badly want to belong to. Leave Argo City and everything that's worthless and common."

Despite the harsh words, her voice had trembled. Lex-ar closed his hands around her elbows and drew her back, against him. "I adore those stars. Those planets up there are gorgeous to me," he had told her.

"I know," she had whispered. Bera had then wished she could stride up to the two and draw her charge away, because Lex-ar words would only serve to hurt Caelie more.

Bera had straightened then, in shock perhaps, when young Lex-ar turned his head slightly and brushed his lips against the temple of her charge. She had to lean to hear him say, "There are probably infinite riches in the universe outside Krypton, with creatures so fascinating, and gemstones so alluring, and beings so interesting." Slowly, ever so slowly, he had turned Caelie in his arms so that neither of them would be preoccupied with the sky. Now the star in his eyes was only Caelie; and Lex-ar was the only heaven in her own. "But there is nothing more precious to me than my heart."

When a teardrop fell from Caelie's eye, Bera fought the need to comfort her.

"I will go to Kryptonopolis to found a name for myself, make me, the son of a mere businessman, be worthy of the daughter of such respected Councilman. I will go to the capital to study those stars, but I will leave my heart here in Argo City, so I will return because I need to survive."

Lex-ar had leaned to wrap his arms around her, and Caelie had clutched at his shoulders. "Please, Lex-ar, don't leave me here."

It was then that another figure came under the light of one of Krypton's moons. Mag-el, from the neighborhood, Bera noted, had cleared his throat and informed them that Lex-ar was expected inside.

And that was the last that Bera had seen of Caelie, for after a quick goodbye, Caelie had retreated to he room. Now she was missing, and no one could find her.

Gab-rel had ordered a search, but for the past twelve hours no one had been able to find her. The older man had almost given up his search. He had run out of places to look, and ideas to base his commands on.

That had been Bera's turn to come up and suggest that the young Lex-ar be informed that Caelie was missing. Gab-rel had at first hesitated, because Lex-ar was then just settling himself in Kryptonopolis. When night dropped though, he had no choice. If he did not want his daughter to spend the night away, alone and in likely danger, he would have to call on the young man who had such dubious friendship with his daughter.

Within an hour, in far less time than what it usually took to travel from Kryptonopolis to Argo City, Lex-ar had paid his respect to Gab-rel and proceeded on his way to search for the missing young woman.

Half an hour from arrival to Argo City, Lex-ar silently lands his rocket outside the observatory that he had been working in for the past years. He climbed up the spiraling staircase and opened the door to reveal Caelie, seated so silently across the telescope.

Lex-ar walked silently towards her. He peered into the peerhole and recognized the system and the planet that she had turned the instrument on.

And then he sat on the floor beside her and took her hand. Wordless, they spent the night.

It was morning when he took her home.

_"Love is a hole in the heart."_

_ Ben Hecht_


	7. Chapter 7

Part 7

_All love that has not friendship for its base,_

_is like a mansion built upon the sand. _

_ Ella Wheeler Wilcox_

It was one of the greatest achievements of his generation—this apprenticeship to the Hall of Worlds. He had touched the planet's most powerful telescope on his first day in this Kryptonopolis museum. From his mentor Zor-el, Lex-ar learned the host of instruments that he would be expected to use. He had also been starstruck when he was introduced to Jor-el's brother, Mag-el's dear uncle, the legendary scientist Jor-el. Lex-ar had learned so many thing about Jor-el. In fact, he had learned so many of the inventions and contributions of the House of El. In Krypton, there was one family who was written in all pages of the planet's history. That was Mag-el's clan. Lex-ar wa sonly honored to be working so closely with them.

Daily, he would write extended letters home to Argo, where he knew Caelie would be waiting to hear from him. Often he found himself working on simple calculations that would yield disastrous results. Whenever he would backtrack in his calculations, he would learn that the reason for such unexpected figures was that he had written instead of the function of whatever arbitrary number, he had scrawled Caelie's initials instead.

Lex-ar had been concerned when Caelie did not answer his call when he had sent her a holograph the day before. At first, he had wondered whether Caelie still hurt at his departure. They had established that the distance would be painful, but Caelie had graciously accepted his decision to pursue this career in the capital. He supposed that it was probably because Gab-rel had only just left the Council and headed for home. They may have been spending time together.

It was only when Lex-ar was in the basement, and he heard passionate voices arguing overhead, did he begin to truly worry. He had no intention to eavesdrop of course. He went to the basement because he had purchased something for Caelie, which he was going to send to Argo City that afternoon, and he knew that metallic paper for wrapping was available in the basement.

The voices above were recognizable. In fact, he had played recordings of those voices over and over again as he studied all he needed to learn about the stars through their lectures.

"With the strength of a thousand suns!" Jor-el's deep voice exploded.

Lex-ar flinched, because the rumble in the man's exclamation contained such terror and excitement.

"It's impossible," replied Zor-el. Lex-ar heard footsteps from above him. Knowing what the room above contained, he knew that the brothers were walking towards the board—perhaps picking up a pointer to draw conclusions by laser light. There were tapping and thudding. "Unreal, Jor-el."

"You are a mathematician and an astronomist. Tell me, brother, if this is in fact unreal."

That peaked Lex-ar attention. He slid out of his chair and crept up as close as he could get to the room where the brothers spoke. It was going to be like watching a genius' process. Lex-ar peered in and read the glowing numbers on the wall.

He was only halfway through when Zor-el shook his head. As his mentor walked up to the numbers and reworked the formula, Lex-ar had time to read through the horrifying reality that Jor-el had presented. Hopeful and desperate, Lex-ar read as Zor-el derived the formula that Zor-el had ended up with. Transmuting the rest of the figures, he arrived at a near perfect reflection of Zor-el end figure. Zor-el's calculation was at its highest sigma probability.

It was, Lex-ar knew, at its very basic sense, flawless.

"We are going to die," Zor-el whispered as he made sense of Jor-el's theory. "Our world will destroy itself and consume us all."

When Lex-ar heard of that conclusion coming from the man he deemed most brilliant of all Kryptonian scientists, it was all he could do not to flee back to Argo City. Instead, he clutched at a chair and waited for Jor-el to resolve this problem he had begun.

"The core of Krypton is composed of uranium, right," Jor-el reminded his brother.

Zor-el agreed and continued, "For untold ages, it has been setting up a cycle of chain-impulses, building in power every moment!"

As Lex-ar listened to the two, and more and more the numbers made sense, he picked up the assumption himself. "Soon, very soon, every atom of Krypton will explode in one final terrible blast!"

"Krypton is one gigantic atomic bomb!" Jor-el cried. Lex-ar watched as Jor-el gathered countless papers and the pointer. "I am going to the Supreme Council now," he pronounced. "We will take all we can take. I am going to have them send out fleets of ships out. Zor-el, find me an otherworld that we can inhabit. We must complete a proposal to abandon the Planet Krypton."

After Jor-el left, Lex-ar revealed his presence to his mentor. "Zor-el."

The older man turned around and saw Lex-ar standing there. He glanced up at the calculations left on the wall. "You are an intelligent young man. There is no sense removing this."

"What should we do?"

"We wait," was the answer. "Krypton's core had long been bent on destroying us. Surely we can wait for the Council to decide."

At those words, Lex-ar's gaze fell to the floor.

"I have a task for you."

At this, Lex-ar looked up at Zor-el at once. "Anything to help."

The older man smiled fondly at Lex-ar. "Gab-rel had gone home to Argo City. The Council had sent him back because he had fallen ill after the Council had sent him on a goodwill trip. I wish you to break this theory to him. Make it gentle, and seek for his advice."

Lex-ar's heart soared at the prospect of seeing Caelie again. He needed to see her after this revelation. He was terrified, but he knew he had to help out.

"Stay there for the night," Zor-el advised. "And if you will, bring home a gift for my Alura."

Lex-ar nodded. "Do you wish for your wife and son to know?"

"Tell Mag-el, so he will know what to prepare. Alura I will tell myself, when all of this is settled."

"Then you will help in the relocation of Argo City, and leave Kryptonopolis to your brother?" Lex-ar inquired.

Zor-el's fond smile turned into a sad one, and he reached out to give Lex-ar shoulder a pat. "Son, Krypton's time is done. The Council knows this."

"What do you mean?" Lex-ar asked in disbelief.

The older man motioned for Lex-ar to follow him out of the room, and they walked through the corridors filled from one side to the other with three dimensional images of other planets. "These are the sceneries we have worked for through all observations done in all these centuries. Some of these worlds are gone, eaten by their stars thrown out of their galaxies by their treacherous gravity—much like our twin world, Xenon. You remember that in school?" Lex-ar nodded. "There are many truths in the universe, understood by the most brilliant of beings. Our Council is a group of the planet's most brilliant. Mark my words, my Lex-ar. The Council will speak of my brother's theories as baseless, but they have always known that this will be our end."

"Why won't they help?" Lex-ar exploded.

"Because our Old World has been long gone. We should have perished with Kandor's loss. Now it I truly our end."

"And you believe the Council will want us to go gently into oblivion? What about Jor-el suggestion? We can occupy one of the existing worlds!"

"Such youth," Zor-el murmured. "I shall personally oppose that proposal. I love these worlds around me."

"Then we shall live there." Lex-ar wondered of all the worlds he and Caelie had seen through their telescope in Argo City. One of those could be their new home. He hoped to find the one that Caelie would most love.

"Any world with an environment good enough to sustain Kryptonian life has its own occupants now. Implanting our civilization there would cause them ruin." Zor-el shook his head. "I will not allow our search for salvation to destroy other lives."

Lex-ar formulated his opposition, but kept his opinion to himself. Having worked only for a few weeks in the Hall of Worlds, he had developed respect for other civilizations as well. Yet if he had to choose between lives of strangers and of those whom he love, he would certainly choose the latter.

"Lex-ar, your communicator."

Lex-ar was jarred out of his reverie at the subtle flash and vibration. When he took the communicator from his pocket and opened it, a small hologram of Caelie emerged. At his first sight of those liquid eyes, his heart stopped. "Cael."

"Lex-ar," she breathed.

"What is it, Caelie?" he urged. Lex-ar quickly glanced up at Zor-el, who was focused intently on the hologram as well.

"Come back," were her next words.

"I will," he vowed.

"Now, Lex-ar," she continued. "My father has died."

And there were no words.

"I wish to die."

"Caelie, I am coming to you," he promised firmly. "Look at me." And he wished he could take back his words, because the bottomless sorrow made his stomach clench. "Hold my gaze, Caelie. Don't let go."

And then the image flickered.

And she was gone.

_What greater thing is there for two human souls that to feel that they are joined... to strengthen each other... to be at one with each other in silent unspeakable memories. _

_ George Eliot _

"Caelie!" he called out, the moment he landed outside of her home. "Caelie!"

Lex-ar's heart raced, when he was met only with silence. He ran up the stairs and through the corridors. "Caelie," he repeated, opening each door.

"Caelie!"

Zor-el had told him that it was impossible to make it to Argo City from Kryptonopolis in the hour that he wished to repeat, in a feat he had done months ago when she had gone missing. Lex-ar had made it back before the hour closed. He had been warned. The House of Rel would remain empty of all occupants not related by blood. Only family would be allowed inside for the next half of the day since Gab-rel passed away. Zor-el had advised him to stay in Kryptonopolis during the waiting time, but Lex-ar knew that in those precious hours, Caelie would need him most.

The house was so still, and he prayed to heaven that Caelie had not called him back for another reason than to comfort her. He could not imagine another more horrifying sight than to see her hurt.

The last room at the very end of the wing was Gab-rel's study. Lex-ar suddenly knew, with absolutely certainty, that it was there that he would find Caelie. Why had it not occurred to him, when her hologram was seated against a wall so obviously in her father's study?

In stories shared to him by Gab-rel himself, his first meeting with Caelie had been in this very study, when she was but hours old and he had come with his father to save her life. Lex-ar pushed the entry button, and the door slid open. When he stepped into the room, he stopped still on his tracks. There Gab-rel sat unmoving in his chair behind the desk, his head leaning forward, lifeless. At the moment of death, the household must leave the body untouched for that half of the day. Obviously, the old councilman had perished while working. It was an honorable death in his old age. Lex-ar oddly felt thankful in his heart that the man would not live to see Krypton's destruction.

When he stepped closer to the desk, his attention was caught by a figure at the edge of his vision. Lex-ar turned and saw Caelie sitting on the floor, against the wall, simply looking at the still body of her father. She was dry-eyed and quiet, and appeared to be deep in thought. At the sight, he immediately turned towards her, then knelt down.

"Caelie, come with me. You need to rest."

Slowly, as if registering his presence through a haze, she turned to him and just stared.

"Caelie, come on," he urged softly.

And then she nodded and placed her hand in his. "It didn't take you long," she whispered.

Lex-ar felt, despite the deceptive façade of strength and control, the tremor that still rocked her body. She leaned more heavily against him as they walked away. When they reached the door leading to the way out of the study, most of her weight was already against Lex-ar. On her next step, her knees buckled. When he moved to carry her, she shook her head. "Just help me."

And when he did lead her to her bed, he sat beside her and then leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. "Sleep, Caelie." Her eyes contained so much, as if she wanted to believe that she was in a dream, and everything would be perfect when she woke up. "Things won't change," he admitted. "I can't make everything better, but I'll still be here. I promise."

She closed her eyes and breathed. Maybe, it was already a little bit better.

_Love is an electric blanket with somebody else in control of the switch. _

_ Cathy Carlyle _

tbc


	8. Chapter 8

Part 8

Lex Luthor set aside the projection disc that had, in the span of a night, thrown his entire life out of the carefully plotted path he had set for himself. "This is insane," he muttered. He was a scientist and this was straight out of science fiction. How could he believe that this was actually a piece of technology from another world? Maybe with leaps and bounds this could be from the future. He could stretch his imagination and belief in intelligence enough to imagine that. What he found hard to grasp as a concept was what this Caelie Mag-el, or at least his memory of Caelie Mag-el, claimed—that he was Lex-ar and he was from the future. It was completely impossible.

He closed his eyes to shut off everything he had seen. Unfortunately, instead of the utter blackness in his expectations, what he saw was the beautiful pale redhead who reminded him of needing him so much, and loving that she needed him.

So many people needed him now, but none of them wanted to need him. At best they mildly detested that their livelihood depended on Lex Luthor.

He shook his head and looked down at the projection disc on the passenger seat. He shifted gears and drove towards the neighborhood community he had developed. Of all the residents in Smallville, there was only one person who was as passionate about his search for answers, who was as intrigued by the mysterious evidences of alien life invading their sleepy little town, who would be the least likely to think he had conjured up this disc and created one giant and explosive hoax.

He was still pretty far from his destination when he saw her, running out of her house, still wearing her a white silk nightgown that flapped around her thighs. Lex pressed on the gas. Chloe Sullivan looked absolutely terrified as she tried to fumble with the keys to unlock her car door.

He parked the car right behind hers so that even if she managed to steady her hands she would not be able to get out of the driveway. He called out, "You're in no condition to drive, Ms Sullivan."

She turned wide panicked eyes to Lex. Right in front of his eyes, the look of terror turned into fury. Her hands fisted at her sides and she asked accusingly, "What the hell were you trying to accomplish, Lex?"

He frowned and got out of the car. "I don't know what you're talking about, Chloe."

She raised her fists and pounded his chest once. "Don't bother denying it," she spitted out.

He held her by the shoulders and said calmly. "Take a deep breath." She did. It was a tremulous one. "Another one." She did. "I haven't seen you for what… seven months? What are you talking about?"

"You," she pronounced, stabbing her chest with her finger at each syllable, "appeared in my house out of nowhere."

"I drove here," he explained slowly. "You saw me drive here."

"Earlier, Lex!" she shouted. "Or did you think I was in the habit of flying out of my house in my nightgown?"

His lips curled a bit, even at the tense moment. "I was hoping you were."

"Lex!" she cried in protest. "Were you trying out a teleportation device or something?" she demanded. "And don't worry I won't break the news yet because it was a flop. You couldn't even hold your presence for more than a minute."

Lex frowned at the words. "What are you talking about?"

"You might want to tweak the flash of light too. It's not dark conference room friendly. And you looked like you were in pain." He shook his head, having no idea what she was talking about. "It was so odd. And you were saying something." Her brows furrowed as she tried to remember.

"What did I say, Chloe?"

She closed her eyes and breathed through the memory. "It was a name. What was your assistant's name? Maybe you were talking to her…" she babbled. "Kelly?"

Lex swallowed heavily as he stared at Chloe Sullivan's face, with her eyes closed and her brows furrowed in concentration. She opened her eyes and he was lost in whirlpools of green light. "Lex…" she whispered. He saw the reflection of the sky, with the myriads of stars contained there.

"I said 'Caelie'?" he clarified.

"So you do know a Caelie," she said.

He could almost recognize the burst of light reflection in her eyes, and realized at that very moment that he was seeing the death of their old civilization in her eyes. "Yes," he answered. "Now I remember." He knew if he turned around, he wouldn't see that explosion of the planet. Not even Chloe saw it. It exploded long ago and its light lit the heavens long before the meteors hit.

"How could you have forgotten something like that?" she grumbled.

"I have no idea," he murmured. "I assure you; I'll never forget again."

"Lex," she repeated nervously.

"How many times have you had to explain something to a person who most likely will think you're insane?"

"Countless," she answered easily.

"It's your turn to be on the receiving end. Will you come with me to the mansion and promise to keep an open mind?"

_iLove is an attempt to change a piece of a dream world into reality._

_ Theodor Reik/i_

Torn between love and responsibility, Lex-ar took the one person in the planet whose soul his was entwined unmercifully to the observatory where they had grown past hurts and laughter. Silently, Caelie sat on the floor as far from the telescope as she could manage. He turned to her and took her hand.

"Come look at the sky, Caelie."

"No," she whispered. "I hate those stars, don't you know!"

"You don't hate them," he answered softly. "Caelie, we grew up watching them. I make my living mapping the galaxy and you adore visiting the Hall of the Worlds, seeing what it's like in these other civilizations."

"The stars took you away from me," she told him. "Without them, you'd stay for me, Lex-ar."

He brushed a flaming lock away from her face. "That's not true."

She grasped his hand tightly. "You want to tell me that you're leaving, don't you? You want to leave me here so you can work with your stars."

"Caelie, very soon Krypton will be no more than floating rocks and dust."

She detached her hand from his. "Just go. You don't need to make up terror tales so you can leave me here."

He stood up and walked over to the telescope. He located a point in the sky and projected the planet he wanted on the ceiling of the observatory. "You've known me from the first day you were born into Krypton, Caelie. Do you truly believe in your heart that I would abandon you?"

She looked up to see a terra-formed planet, brimming with people the same in appearance and herself and Lex-ar, moving about freely in a planet that looked to her to be as ancient as the old capital city. They had old technology and their vehicles moved about slower because they rolled on wheels on the ground rather than flew in the air. They had constructions that were like blocks sticking up from their land. She and Lex-ar were so similar to the people she saw that they could get lost amidst them.

Her eyes met his.

"I will never ever abandon you," he vowed. Her breath caught in her throat. "I would sooner die."

Caelie closed her eyes, and her tears fell. She gasped for breath. Then, he was kneeling in front of her.

"Jor-el wants all of Krypton transported to this Terra planet. Doing that will annihilate the existence of its people. We are stronger, Chloe, with more advanced technology. Under a yellow sun, we will develop strength a hundred times what we have in Krypton. We will be as fast as our best wind gliders. We will defy the Terra planet's gravity. If we all go, we will render them extinct."

She watched the people in the projection. "That's too much of a price to pay to save Kryptonians."

He nodded tersely. "I must go back and find at least half a dozen Terra planets. We will divide our population and get lost amongst these planets. To inhabit only one will destroy the host. If we are in smaller groups, we can survive without upsetting the planets' balance."

Caelie nodded. She stood up and looked around her and saw Argo City, her home. Soon, even Argo, the only constant in her life, would be gone. "How long does Krypton have?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "I can go now and even on my way to Kryptonopolis the planet can explode. Or we can accomplish the transport and find out that Krypton has a hundred more years. The core is too unstable."

She pulled the lever to open the ceiling. Above them gleamed Krypton's two moons. Caelie pleaded with red-rimmed eyes. "If this was the last night of my home, and tomorrow we never wake up…" Flush with the contrasting moonbeams, she pulled the ribbon of her dress until the material pooled around her feet. She walked naked towards Lex-ar.

He reached for her, at first with hesitation and then with certainty. Lex-ar placed his bare hand on the small of her back. As her fingers tangled with the material that laced the front of his vest, he bent to place hot lips on the curve of her breast.

For six billion time cycles since the birth of the planet, Krypton's two moons threw beams that joined as they struck land and ocean. Under their stalwart gaze Caelie accepted Lex-ar inside her as he silently sealed his promise that she would be with him no matter what fate fell upon Krypton.

As he expelled his seed inside her, Caelie wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "Don't forget," she whispered in his ear.

He buried his face in the moist crook of her neck. "Never."

And he did not forget. Not even when he was ordered to be sealed off by the Council for daring to oppose the plan that could save the population from extinction. The moment the doors slammed shut and all his communication devices lost power, the first rumble of the uranium quake was felt.

Krypton was moaning from the core.

i_The love that lasts longest is the love that is never returned._

_ Somerset Maugham /i_

Despite their immense advancements in science and technology, the Kryptonians were at heart a superstitious lot. It was said that if one saw a comet, he must hide in a cave for one planetary rotation. Caelie knew of an ancestor who tried to follow that belief. When he emerged from the cave an hour earlier than he had to, he found his home burned down. A widely respected superstition was that a bride must avoid jewelry from the Jewel Mountains when she got married so that she would not doom the union.

It was that respect for tradition that made Caelie seek out a string of gems from that very mountain and clasp it around her neck, underneath her gown, on the day she faced in the Palace of Marriage the man she had known since childhood and who ever meant to save her. She held out her arm and waited for Mag-el to clasp the marriage bracelet around her wrist.

When he leaned to catch her lips with his, she turned her head slightly so he would kiss the edge. "This is the only way," he told her. He placed his palm against her stomach.

Lex-ar had abandoned her. Weeks after he left for Keyptonopolis and she had never heard from him again. The Council's plan was simple and cursed. Only select families, who contributed the most to Kryptonian society, could board the transport ships to the Terra planet. She would be perish before she allowed Lex-ar's seed to die with the moaning planet.

With Gab-rel gone, Caelie was in no way going to be admitted into the transport program. The House of El, on the other hand, had built Kryptonian society and had a sure transport of their own.

Mag-el turned to see his father approach, and happily kissed the older man's hand. "I thank you for being part of this celebration."

Zor-el pulled Mag-el aside. At his father's stern words, Mag-el turned to his bride. "Caelie, prepare a clothing case for a night in the capital."

She straightened immediately. "Lex-ar?"

"My father has found him. He had been imprisoned for rejecting the transport project."

tbc


	9. Chapter 9

Part 9

_i"Love vanquishes time. To lovers, a moment can be eternity, eternity can be the tick of a clock."_

_ Mary Parrish /i_

A long time later Lex Luthor leaned back in his chair and stared steadily Chloe Sullivan, whose only movement was the regular swallowing and faint breathing. Her eyes rested on the frozen holographic image of a thought projection that was downloaded into the disc by some million years long dead alien whose final words were to convince them that the hoax was real.

"Poor girl," she finally said.

Lex closed his hand around hers. "Chloe."

Slowly, as if moving in slow motion, she turned to him. "No," was her only statement.

"What do you mean, no?" he demanded.

"Whatever you're thinking, it's impossible," she clarified tonelessly.

He shook his head. With the light of the fire glowing against her skin like this, he could see the resemblance. Her hair had started to curl and touch her shoulders. The red glow bouncing off the blonde locks made it look auburn. "Are you really going to start talking normal people logic with me, Chloe?"

She snatched her hand away. "I don't appreciate the patronizing tone, Lex," she bit out. "And if you're actually going to try to convince me that I'm some alien chick you knocked up and got killed—"

Chloe caught her breath when Lex grasped her shoulders. "Don't," he said quietly, in warning.

She softened her voice. Chloe gestured to the disc. "Look, Lex, I understand that this can be upsetting—"

"Tell me that you're seriously shutting down this idea, Chloe."

"I have no choice. It's impossible!"

"Then who was in your house tonight, calling you Caelie?"

She looked away from him. When her eyes fell onto the disc again, she shook her head. "Lex, even if this has any shred of truth, and I'm not saying it does," she blurted quickly. "What do you expect to happen? This is the first time we've talked in more than half a year and then we learn that what… we're some otherworldly Romeo and Juliet?"

He walked over to where she sat, then knelt in front of her. He cupped her chin, then turned her to face him. "Whatever happens, happens," he told her. "All I want is the truth." Just as they did on the street in front of her house, Chloe's eyes reflected the explosion of billions of shattered pieces of light when they was no sky to mirror. Lex felt the cold tingling running from his spine to all the pulse points of his body. "I want to affirm what I know you know, Chloe."

"Then what?" she whispered, captivated by blue gray eyes that shimmered with a supernova.

"Then anything you could possibly want," he promised.

Chloe licked her lips. "Even if what I want is to have nothing to do with this insanity?"

His nostrils flared. "Even if what you wanted was everything and more," he returned.

She nodded. "I want to see the rest of the thought projection."

"Caelie," he said to the hologram, "please continue."

The hologram blinked up at the two. "Are you sure about this?"

"I thought your soul purpose is to force the story down my throat?" he retorted.

Chloe grinned when the holographic image appeared to blush. "Lex-ar, what's become of your manners?" The hologram glanced at where Chloe sat. "And in front of Caelie? You have always ever wanted to show Caelie how upstanding you are."

"He's shown me plenty of times how not upstanding he is," Chloe assured the hologram, not noticing the way he had begun to answer to the alien name. From the corners of her eyes, Chloe saw how Lex frowned at the words. She continued, "And I may not remember the Lex-ar you're talking about, but I think I appreciate that this Lex can show me more than his upstanding qualities. Makes him more real, you know."

The hologram nodded. "Had you seen Lex-ar after your expulsion, you would have been terrified. He had become manic and driven only by his anger and hurt. You would have not recognized him."

"We were hoping you could show us," Lex intoned.

"Caelie, your new husband Mag-el had taken you to the capital since you wanted to see Lex-ar. He was a fine man, your husband. All the men from the House of El were. I so wish you would remember him," the hologram began.

"How I wish he had not been so kind and accommodating to your request, Caelie. You see, Mag-el had known since you were children that you are Lex-ar were inevitable. He should have known you were also unstoppable. Had he acknowledged it, he would not have left you when you saw Lex-ar."

i_She ran towards him and the moment they were within arms' reach, she wrapped her arms around him. Lex-ar held her close to him as he captured her lips. He buried his fingers in her flaming hair and dissolved into her. His eyes closed, he kissed his way down her neck. With one hand he undid the ribbons of her bodice and licked a burning path to her aching breast._

_Caelie gasped. "I had thought I lost you. Lex-ar, the days without you—"_

"_That was not the end. A happy ending, Caelie. I promise you." _

_The door burst open to reveal a stone-faced officer who focused his cold gaze on Caelie's tousled look and undone bodice. Lex-ar stepped in front of Caelie to give her privacy to fix herself up._

"_Lex-ar, you are free to present your treacherous proposition to the Council."_

_He closed his eyes in relief. Lex-ar grasped Caelie's hand._

"_Mrs Mag-el, you are under arrest for adultery."_

_In surprise, Lex-ar looks down at Caelie's wrist, where Mag-el's bracelet was. _

"_Lex-ar, I was going to tell you!"_

_The officer sent in two of his men to remove Lex-ar from the confines and then closed it in front of Caelie._

"_Caelie," Lex-ar called out as he was dragged away, "I will fix this. I swear on your father's grave, I will fix this." Lex-ar reached for her hand, and brought the tips of her fingers to his lips._

_She smiled sadly. "Here we are at the end, my love. Is it a happy ending?"_

_"It is impossible to repent of love. The sin of love does not exist."_

_ Muriel Spark /i_

He had pleaded to the most powerful man he knew. In the end, it was between the two of his fondest desires. He could run to her trial in front of the Kryptonian Supreme Council or he could present to the Council of Five his alternate plan to ensure Krypton's salvation. No one would have to marry into a house like El to survive the catastrophe.

Once upon a time, so long ago it seemed to him now, he had sworn to an innocent and trusting young woman that the planet they so loved to watch would not be sacrificed so that their people could survive. To do it, Lex-ar would not go to Caelie's trial.

There was only one choice. Lex-ar turned over his paper to Jor-el and left for the Supreme Council with Mag-el at his heels.

"No," he whispered as they drew close to the Dome. Mag-el released the door so they could slip inside. He turned furiously to his friend. "The Dome? For a kiss?"

"It was adultery, Lex-ar," Mag-el managed.

"For a kiss," he repeated in disbelief.

"They had detected the life form inside her, and it was not an El."

The implication of the words hit him like the tidal waves that crashed in some worlds he had observed.

Lex-ar stumbled towards the prison shuttle. Inside she slept, appearing so peaceful, almost like she was a wax figure encased forever in glass. She was suspended love meant to be exiled into space. He reached and placed his hand on the cold glass.

The Dome was the place where exiles began. It stored the prison shuttles that had been used by the Council for the years before the Phantom Zone. Now here he stood, once a child well cared for by Krypton's politics, being broken and torn by the same good laws of the land he had always abided by.

"Here we are at the end, my love. Is it a happy ending?" he heard her voice in his head.

As the cold of the glass that parted him from her seeped into his skin, he said aloud, "We are nowhere close to the end, Caelie." He vowed, "I will search for you even in the farthest reaches of the universe. I will not rest."

Lex-ar saw the crystals surrounding the shuttles and knelt down to press a series of codes he had hastily encrypted in his brain. The suspended animation would have an aging reversal effect as well. Even if took him years to locate her, he would not find her aging in an abandoned planet. Caelie would get her chance at life again. Finally, he reached the code for the cleanser, the crystal that would wipe out all of Caelie's memory of Krypton. He would not allow her to forget everything that they were. As he tried to decrypt the cleanser code, Mag-el gave him a warning cry.

The loud noises that accompanied the arrival of the Kryptonian Security Force did not cause him to stumble away and hide the fact that he was illegally inside the Dome. Lex-ar stood there in front of the prison shuttle even as the authorities clasped him by the arms and started pulling him away. Mag-el stood on the far side, the only one who had the right to see the ejection. As her husband, Mag-el would stay inside the Dome and push the button to release her into the sky.

"No, no!" he cried out, struggling against the men who were pulling him away. "Mag-el," he pleaded, "do not allow them to do this."

Caelie's husband and Lex-ar's friend looked down in despair. He then met Lex-ar's eyes and claimed, "I cannot do anything else, Lex-ar. Just be grateful you have escaped your punishment."

Lex-ar grabbed Mag-el's shirt and spit into his ear, "Get me the numbers. Get me the coordinates."

His eyes wide with disbelief and outrage, Lex-ar was pushed out of the Dome's doors. The heavy latch was placed, and Lex-ar pounded on the doors. He screamed against the walls when he heard the Dome's roof part. "Stop them, Mag-el!" he yelled. "Caelie!" His voice was raw then. His limbs melted at the sound of the rocket firing.

The crime and judgment was played for Kryptonopolis. "Judged guilty of adultery and exiled into boundless space."

Lex-ar fell to his knees, clutching his gut as he stared up into the red sky. When he saw the capsule shoot out into the air, he collapsed onto his side. For endless hours, it seemed, he lay on the ground unmoving. When it seemed that ages had passed, Lex-ar picked himself up unsteadily, leaning against the Dome and pushing himself towards the Hall of Worlds.

At the basement of the museum, Lex-ar began his work to follow the trajectory of the shuttle. He would not emerge until he was certain he could locate her again.

Krypton and the rest of the universe could give birth and end to worlds unknown, and Lex-ar would remain isolated in the basement of the Hall Worlds, he created a path to a his own piece of fantasy world where Caelie and their child survived—a world where he could her a happy ending.

_i "Love is an attempt to change a piece of a dream world into reality."_

_ Theodor Reik/i_

tbc

Next part is the last.


	10. Chapter 10

Part 10

_i "To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides." _

_ David Viscott/i_

With trembling hands, Chloe closed the thought projection disk. She glanced sideways at Lex whose fingers were clasped in front of him.

"He succeeded," Lex concluded. "I succeeded," he corrected himself.

She swallowed at the thought. Memories of one night she had tiptoed down the stairs as a five-year-old girl teased at her brain. It was the night her mother rolled out of her life with a trolley bag of clothes. Gabe Sullivan had demanded in that desperate voice he had only ever used with his wife, "So you're including Chloe in our fight? Are you going to abandon your daughter too?"

_i"I will never ever abandon you," Lex-ar vowed. Her breath caught in her throat. "I would sooner die."/i_

And her mother had turned rabid eyes at her father, then glanced towards the stairs. Chloe had run up and hid, but she was fairly certain that her mom knew she had been there. Still, she had claimed in disbelief, "But that's just it, isn't it, Gabe? She's not mine."

How oddly fitting it was that her mothers from both worlds cared so little about a helpless child.

"He reversed Caelie's animation," she continued, refusing to refer to this fantasy story lover as Lex, refusing to accept in front of him that she was undeniable Caelie Mag-el. "He changed the destination of her capsule."

"Boundless space. That's what the judgment was. But you and I adored one terra-formed planet, Chloe. I knew we were destined to meet here again."

"It doesn't make sense," she denied, leaving all her theories behind and on the moment when it was most important to suspend disbelief, searched for logic or a mathematical equation for Lex Luthor to be reborn.

"Krypton was hundreds of thousands of light years away. It's possible, Chloe." He placed a hand on her chest, invading her private space the way she had never known Lex Luthor to do. She looked down at where his palm connected with her skin. "Don't you feel it?"

"I don't see it. I don't feel it."

As if called, she turned towards the fireplace and stared at the golden glow. The blinding white light that burst in her house appeared again, completely drowning the meager glow of the fire. The man would appear again, she knew. Suddenly, Lex Luthor dropped out of her eyesight as if he had not been there in the first place.

When the light vanished, she saw instead of the handsome young man she had seen before, a sick graying man stumbled into the room. She raced towards him and caught him in her arms. "Caelie," he breathed out into her ear.

"Lex-ar," she gasped in recognition, as if there was no question, as if it was a given.

She helped him towards the door. Suddenly, there was another body supporting Lex-ar. Chloe flashed a grateful smile at Lex. "A bed," she suggested.

Lex nodded and helped them towards his room, which was closest. After placing the sick alien into bed, Chloe sat beside him and cupped his face. "Lex-ar, what's happened to you?"

"All my energy, all my strength, all that I am, I've devoted into searching for you, Caelie," the alien confessed. "And I've succeeded."

"You did this to yourself?" she sighed.

Lex watched the expressions flit across her face. Abruptly he stood up and excused himself. His exit went unnoticed.

Lex-ar gave her a small smile. "You made me promise never to forget, Caelie. I never did. I told you I would not rest. I would search for you through the farthest reaches of the universe."

"You're a crazy man," she claimed, laughing bitterly.

"But now I'm fading with Krypton and we can no longer be together." She grasped his hand and blinked at the fading form. He closed his eyes. "I wanted one more moment."

Chloe lifted his hand to her lips. "Thank you for keeping your promise," she told him. Her eyes drifted to the book on the nightstand. He had loved hearing her voice once upon a time. She did not doubt that he was drifting. It seemed such a small favor to give him what he enjoyed. She picked it up and flipped through the pages. "Carmina Burana," she read. "Omnia Sol Temperat."

It was then he said it, the way she had done him in the past, "Here we are at the end, my love," he rasped. The memories of those nights were so clear now that he was before her.

She continued, "Is it happy?"

And he opened those beautiful eyes, and she found them swimming in tears. He nodded. "A very happy ending."

Chloe sniffed and nodded her own response. Slowly, the glimmer in his eyes slid and vanished. The tears slid from her eyes despite her efforts to hold them in. She leaned down and placed a kiss on his slack lips. "Thank you for finding me." Chloe gripped his hand with one hand and returned to the book with the other. Finally finding the passage she had been looking for, Chloe continued reading. The door opened and Lex walked in. His gaze moved from Chloe to the linked hands to the image of his former self on the bed. Her voice hung in the air as she said, "With all my heart, and all my soul, I am with you though I am far away." It was then that she looked up and met Lex's eyes. He walked forward and took the book from her hand then laid it aside.

"He's gone," she said.

He nodded. Chloe squeezed the hand in hers one last time, then felt it squeeze back. Surprised, her eyes flew to the empty bed. When she looked down where her hand was linked, she saw herself holding on to Lex's hand.

Chloe extricated her hand carefully from his, then stood up. She wiped the tears from her cheeks and cleared her throat. "I have to go." He remained seated on the edge of the bed.

She pulled open the door.

"He's not, you know," Lex averred.

She turned to him in confusion. "What?"

"Gone. He's not gone, Chloe."

Her face softened and for a moment, he thought he saw in her eyes his young Caelie who trusted and believed every word. It was only for a brief moment. As quickly as she came, young Caelie vanished and was replaced by the uncertain, grief-stricken eyes of someone who had found and lost her soul within the period of a few hours.

"Not now," she whispered. "Not yet."

_iLove is the emblem of eternity: it confounds all notion of time: effaces all memory of a beginning, all fear of an end. _

_ Germaine De Stael /i_

fin


End file.
